


Fifty seconds

by to_be_dauntless



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Abuse of italics, Dancing, Domestic Fluff, Fight scene???, Gen, Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I can't say that I did it well but I did it?, I don't have a plan for anything so don't expect me to be able to anticipate what I'm doing, I'm Sorry, I'm mostly just seeing if I'm doing anything worth writing, Not Shippy, Slow Dancing, Soul Eater AU, accidentally, dubious in world mechanics (soul resonance), eventually, forgot about that one, i think that counts, i'm doing my best okay, it could be, meister hunk, meister matt, meister shiro, or reading, this isn't beta read either, weapon allura, weapon keith, weapon lance, weapon pidge, weapon shay
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-15
Updated: 2018-02-01
Packaged: 2019-03-05 06:13:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13381845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/to_be_dauntless/pseuds/to_be_dauntless
Summary: They knew their reputations, a weapon that goes through meisters quicker than one can swallow a kishin egg, and another that no one can work with.(A Soul Eater AU)





	1. Genesis

Lance remembered the day he found out he was a demon weapon.

 

_It was a warm spring day, he was with his brother and his friends. They were sixteen, five years older than him, and were playing with slingshots and rocks, air guns that they borrowed with the promise of not killing anyone, and empty cans of soft drink. They were laughing, trying to outdo one another, whilst Lance sat on a rock, out of harm’s way, watching._

_One boy, Jack most likely, nudged Santiago, whispering, to which his brother nodded. “Lance! Do you want to have a turn?” he didn’t know what to say. He gulped, meeting the four pairs of eyes, before he finally let out a crackly, “okay.” The older boys cheered, though there was no reason to, and Lance took a gun, his hand shaking violently. “Alright, let me show you first then,” Santiago began, wisely taking the gun out of his hands, “Have one hand on the gun, and the other under to support it,” Lance mimicked the position. “Now you pull the hammer back, then point,” he pointed it towards a still upright can, “and shoot.” he hit a bulls eye, sending the poor, tortured can flying backwards into the grass._

_He would have copied the actions too, if his hand didn’t feel so strange. Looking down, he saw that it wasn’t even a hand anymore, instead, it was gleaming metal, staring back at him. “Wh-what? Santiago! Help! What’s going on?” he screeched._

_"Shit! Let’s go home, I’m sure mamá or papá will know what to do. Thanks guys, I’ll see you later!”_

_Later that day, he learnt about it._

_‘It’ though, was about demon weapons._ _Which he happened to be._

_The next year, he ended up here, in Death City Nevada._

 

_“How do people do this everyday?” he groaned, as he flopped onto the ground, having finally made it to the top._

_“Are you okay?” a kind voice asked him._

_Looking up, he saw a boy holding out a bottle of water. “C-Can I take it?” “Of course! My names Hunk! I’m a meister.” Lance swiftly grabbed the bottle and chugged down well over half before he caught enough breath to speak again._

_"Thank you Hunk, you’re an angel! I’m Lance, and I’m a weapon!”_

_"You don’t transform into a lance do you?”_

_"No no no, I’m a gun!”_

_“Cool! Though it would be pretty funny if you could.”_

_“I’m sure not all students names are puns.” Together, they walked through the gate, chatting about what they wanted to do._

 

As of the second year, Lance still had not found himself the perfect meister. He and Hunk had partnered initially, before mutually agreeing after six months that it just wasn’t going to work.

Hunk then partnered with Shay, who was beyond sweet, and a perfect partner for him, but also a war hammer of all things.

After Hunk, he partnered with a girl named Nyma, though it didn’t even last a week. The last day ended with him attached to a lamp post and partnerless.

After that, it was another four meisters, the longest lasting was Plaxum, for a whopping two months.

It was ridiculous, the rest of his friends had managed to find someone, from Pidge, whom he’d met in the first two weeks of class, was a weapon as well, to Matt their brother and meister, to Shiro and Allura, a meister and weapon respectively. The only one left that wasn’t his quite his friend, and wasn’t partnered was Keith.

They’d gotten off to a rough start, always trying to one up each other, arguing that led to a fight one time. Somewhere along the way, their dynamic shifted, they still competed, they still argued but it wasn’t the same as it used to be.

 

Speak of the devil. 

 

"Hey Mullet, didn’t know you were gonna be here.” he said as Keith was sitting down.

“Nice to see you too.” Lance was about to reply, only for the door to open again.

“Okay everyone! Welcome back!” A cheery orange haired teacher called. “My name is Coran Hieronymus Wimbleton Smythe. Feel free to call me Mr Smythe or Coran. Now, I expect you know why you’re all here?” there were murmurs from the class.

"Any ideas?” Keith whispered to him. 

"It looks like it’s the partnerless. I recognise some of the others here.” he whispered back, watching as greyish purple eyes widened.

“Oh no. Why didn’t you sit closer to a window?” Keith fidgeted, those same eyes darting around nervously.

“You could have sat anywhere you know?”

“I was thinking it was better someone I knew than a stranger, so how was I supposed to know that it made no difference?” 

"Alright, that’s enough, now, I want everyone to pair up with a weapon or meister near you.” almost immediately, people paired up, though a few that were close to their location shuffled away, probably due to their combined reputations, _a weapon that goes through meisters quicker than one can swallow a kishin egg, and another that no one can work with_. Lance thought grimly.

“Is everybody ready? If not, put up your hand.” the two boys sullenly put up their hands. Looking around, they were the only ones too.

“Come down after I finish explaining the exercise, okay?” they nodded. “So, start by getting to know each other, talk about hobbies, family, things you like, so on and so forth. After five minutes, you can elect to keep going, or to switch. So I wish you all luck! You may begin.” at that cue, they made their way down to Coran. “So boys, what seems to be the problem?” he got nothing but confused looks. “You were sitting next to each other, but were both without a partner.” he prompted.

“We’re both weapo-” Lance began, only to get cut off.

“That isn’t much of an excuse my boy.”

“But we don’t work well together normally.” Keith tried.

“Ahh, but often, the greatest pairs and the ones that are different.”

“I’m not partnering with him!” they both shout in unison.

“See? I think there’s a lot of potential in both of you, something that can only be drawn out by the right person.” his eyes glinted knowingly, while the two blushed.

“I would like you to at the very least, try and match your wavelengths, if you manage that, please try and resonate.” begrudgingly, they both agreed, moving to back to their seats to try.

 

“How do you want to do this?”

Keith shrugged, “Close our eyes and hope for the best?”

Lance shrugged back, and settled into a comfortable position before closing his eyes, Keith followed suit.

“It’s too loud here! Do you think we can get the room next door or something?” his concentration broke.

“If I can’t hear you breathing, I doubt we can get anything done, let alone resonate.” thankfully, Coran agreed, and let them into an empty room.

"Okay, are you ready?” Lance nodded, taking a deep breath. Keith caught onto the rhythm quickly, and they were breathing in sync.

 

Thirty seconds or so later, they felt a crackle.

Forty, it grew stronger.

Forty five, it clarified, into that back and forth of wavelengths.

Fifty, it felt like two gears, turning, spurring on the other, clicking into place.

Fifty two, they realised that they had done it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey so, I decided to impulsively post this, even though I have so many more stories that I put hours into but whatever. The title may change, since the document itself wasn't even titled.
> 
> Anyway, I know that soul resonance isn't possible with two weapons, but I'm using the anime and the fact that this is an au as an excuse. (I know it's low)
> 
> I would love feedback, especially on my writing, but thanks to anyone that made it this far.


	2. Equilibrium

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here's a chapter that takes place three months later.

“Keith! Get out of the way!” Lance shouted, seeing the dagger flying towards the back of his partner’s head. In a flash of light however, said boy was gone.

He gripped the sword in his right hand, watching as Keith appeared in the flat of the blade. “What did you think you were doing? You were the one that told me ‘not to turn my back on the enemy’ and yet here we are!” Keith flinched at Lance’s octave-higher-than-normal voice.

 

“The boy is right you know? You should never turn your back on the enemy.” a chilling voice whispered into his ear. In a panic, he swung Keith in a half circle.

“Why fight? You can just give me your souls already!” the man laughed like a maniac, dodging every stab and every swing.

“This isn’t working! We need a better plan.” Lance said.

“Let’s resonate then!” 

“What? You know that we  _ barely  _ manage to do it outside of battle!” he jumped out of the way of another swipe.

“Let’s swap then.” with a nod, he threw the sword a fair distance behind the man, then transformed himself, landing in Keith’s hands.

“Oh? So you two have another trick up your sleeves?” he raised an eyebrow.    
Neither said anything, just attacked, shooting desperately.

 

One dangerously close swipe of the dagger left Keith with a cut to his cheek.    
“Are you okay?” Lance asked worriedly, changing back to a human.

“I’m fine. Pay attention!” he wiped the blood away with the bottom of his black shirt. “Anyway, what we’re doing is obviously not working.”

“But look, he’s slowing down, he’s staggering a little too. If we can keep this up, then we might be able to get a clean hit.” even though he hated to admit it, he was getting tired, and Lance was right.

With a groan, he stood up straighter, and gritted his teeth. “Evasive maneuvers.” he mouthed, as he stepped out of the way. 

Miraculously, he understood, eluding all the attacks, and returning shots of his own. Keith managed to slip behind and just as Lance predicted, got them a clean hit. 

 

The soul bobbed up and down slightly, their hard won prize, waiting to be claimed.

“Do you want it?” he offered.

“No, you can take it.” Keith replied.

“I took the last one remember? So that means I’m one soul ahead of you.” was the stubborn reply.

He sighed. There was absolutely no arguing when either one of them got like this, and they wanted to go home. “Fine. We need to keep tally of who got what though.” 

“I’ll patch you up at home, then we can work on it.” it sounded like a great idea, taking a hot shower, and sinking into bed, sleeping for the next sixteen hours. Amazing.

 

-

 

Arriving back at their apartment of two months, Lance swore that if they didn’t have any obligations to do things, both of them would have just collapsed in the doorway. But no, instead they had obligations to do things, Keith went straight to the shower, whilst Lance heated up leftovers for them.

 

Fifteen minutes of vacuuming up noodles later, his partner wandered in, holding a wad of suspiciously red toilet paper to his wound.

 

Wordlessly, he picked up the disinfectant and a cotton bud that he laid out while waiting for the microwave to finish, and Keith pulled the toilet paper away from his face. Soon enough, the cut had a dressing on it, the bruises were iced, and Lance was heading to the shower.

 

-

 

Keith woke up the next ‘morning’ sore all over. 

 

His arms were made of lead, his legs were submerged in concrete and his face was itchy as hell. Looking over at his alarm clock, proudly stating in bold and blocky red, that it was one thirty in the afternoon. Times like this made him  _ seriously  _ regret managing to make it into the EAT class.

 

When he managed to drag his dishevelled self into the dining table, he was met with a stack of pancakes, steaming hot, chocolate chip, and doused in maple syrup and halved strawberries. His eyes lit up, _finally_ finding a will to live amongst the fatigue and pain.

 

After gulping down half a pancake in one go, he finally looked up to meet blue eyes. 

“Why didn’t you tell me that you knew how to make pancakes? And how I like them? How did you even wake up long enough before me to make them?” he asked in a rush before attacking the other half.

“Well I’m glad you like them. I’ve always known, I’ve just never bothered. Shiro also gave me a notebook to help me deal with you like, a week after we paired up, and lastly, because this is the time you always wake up after a mission, and best of all, now you owe me, but that’s more than enough reason.” Lance’s lips quirked upwards at the last one.

“Oh damn, I do, don’t I?” he said between mouthfuls. “Remind me to find Shiro later, since that is actually  _ really  _ creepy, and the fact that I didn’t get a notebook from Hunk. Also that your pancakes are better.” 

“What am I? Your personal assistant?” Lance rolled his eyes but still did it anyway.

 

-

 

“Hello there boys! What brings you here today?” Coran asked as he saw the two walking into the classroom.

“Uh, hey Coran, can you please teach us how to resonate better?” Lance asked sheepishly.

“It’s inside you of course! You two did extremely well three months ago, despite it being your first time.” Keith could barely resist the urge to slap his forehead.

“Are there any techniques to help us? We can sometimes do it at home, but we haven’t been able to do it in battle yet.” 

“Ahh, I see what you mean. Living together is an easy, but slow way to bond, breathing doesn’t work well in battle, I would suggest trying to either go a day without speaking to each other, or my personal favourite, dancing! Why, as a young meister, I met my first partner at a dance! Oh it was wonderful, and-” Keith coughed.

“Well uh, yes, it is your choice what you do. I wish you two the best of luck, and feel free to find me should you need anymore help.”

 

Exiting the classroom, they walked towards the cafeteria.

“What do you want to do?” Lanced asked.

“I think we’re okay with the non-verbal communication.” he replied.

“So you wanna dance then?” Keith felt blood rushing to his cheeks.

“I- ah- we- we don’t have to. How about we ask Shiro and Allura for some ideas? They might have something.” and maybe he walked as fast as he could.

 

When they got to the cafeteria, at their usual table in the one spot that had a window but not too much sun, except in the late afternoon, sat Pidge, Matt, Hunk and Shay.

“Hey guys! How’s it going?” the four looked up to see the new arrivals.

“Hey Lance, hey Keith.” 

“It’s lovely to see you two.”

“Nice to see you alive.”

“Are you guys okay? What happened to your cheek? Did you disinfect all your cuts? Did you get enough rest?” the crease between Hunk’s eyebrows well, creased even more.

“Hunk! It’s okay, we’re okay. You don’t have to worry so much.” Lance patted his best friend’s back.

“Are Shiro and Allura here? We wanted to ask them some stuff.” Keith asked rather bluntly.

“Sorry, they went out this morning. What did you want to ask them about?” Matt questions

“Soul resonance.” they both reply.

“I see, I see. I guess it must be harder for two weapons without a meister. Pidge, any ideas?”

“Talking is probably the best way, next is physically synchronising. As much as I hate people snooping around in my head, it helps.” they said. 

“Okay, thanks guys, I’m going to get something to eat. You coming Keith?” 

“Yeah, see you later.” and they left with a quick goodbye.

 

-

 

“So what are we going to do?” not feeling like much, he’d bought a wrap, Lance must not have been up for a meal too, having bought chips. Currently, the pair were sitting at a different table in the corner.

“We can talk now if you want to.” his partner offered.

“What are we going to talk about?” he asked as he nabbed a fry.

“Anything I guess.” Lance said unhelpfully.

“What’s anything?”

“Something I don’t know about you?”

“I was born in Texas? Is that good enough?” Keith watched in absolute horror as the boy in front of him began to crack up in laughter.

“Oh my god, are you serious?”

“Yes, now tell me something about you.” 

 

When he finally stopped laughing, it was one of those times he didn’t have a thing to say, but a dictionary's worth at the same time. 

“Lance? Are you okay?” came the concerned voice.

“Ah! Sorry Keith. I don’t really know what to tell you.” he looked down at his fidgety hands.

“Don’t worry, just tell me something when you’re ready, or if I can think of a question for you, okay?” 

“Okay, thanks.” 

“No problem.” finally, they fell into a smooth conversation, talking about training and groceries, as Lance ate half of the wrap, and Keith took more chips.

 

-

 

“So, how are we gonna do this?” Keith looked pretty worried, having finally gotten over his embarassment, standing in the middle of the living room, all of their furniture pushed to the side, toes digging into the plush rug.

“Are you okay with me leading first?” he asked. When his partner nodded, he held out his hands, palms up, which Keith took, laying his own hands on top.

“I’ll move slowly first, got it?” Lance said, walking forward with his right. Keith’s left foot stepped back on instinct.

 

The pair shifted leisurely, stumbling every handful of steps. 

 

He stood still for a moment, “Keith,” said boy looked up at him, “Look at me okay? Stop looking at your feet.” 

“What? Why?” 

“Please trust me.” was all he said. 

Keith gulped, “I- I trust you.” 

“Thank you.” he beamed. 

 

Lance changed their position, moving Keith’s hand to his own shoulder, maneuvering the other to grasp the hand that wasn’t resting on his partner’s back.

 

“Close your eyes when you feel comfortable, okay?” to his surprise, purple eyes close immediately. 

Once he overcome the bewilderment, he started to sway gently at first. Soon after, it turns into small steps, a push and pull, giving and taking. He makes his steps a little bigger, and then a little more, pushing Keith to his limits, but pulling away before it becomes too much. To them, it felt like the waves rushing in to meet land, only to retreat again, or the crackling rise and fall of a flame.

 

Somewhere along the way, they stop, exhilarated, and breathless. Only then does Keith open his eyes.

 

“Wow.” he breathed, not being able to find any other word that he could use.

“Wow.” was echoed, a joyous chuckle lacing the sound.

  
The hold was broken, arms wrapping around one another in unadulterated happiness. Even if nobody truly thought this could work, if  _ they  _ could work. But this very moment, it didn’t matter, and they didn’t care. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to everyone that's following my story! It means so much to me that there's people who seem to enjoy something I did. I think that's enough of me being a sap for now.
> 
> I can't say that I'll have an update schedule, since I have two or three other stories that I want to finish and post. One's a Miraculous Ladybug au, another is a Ghostbusters au, and the last one is twenty pages long and makes no sense. Fun times.
> 
> Anyway, I don't really have any certain direction with this, so this may end up looking like a bunch of stories that are just in the same universe? Who knows, what I'm doing with this.
> 
> Feel free to give me ideas, feedback and constructive criticism!


	3. Synergy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is a chapter about Keith and his backstory.

Keith loved- no, loves would be more accurate, his life at the DWMA. It was everything he could have dreamed of and more.

Even three years ago, he couldn’t even fathom the idea that he would be surrounded by friends, many that he would even consider family, always warm, full, and safe.

 

_He was breathing hard. Big, frustrated tears unwillingly made their way down his face._

_Keith ran around another corner. ‘Is this far enough?’ he shuddered at the thought of his ‘family’ finding him. They were mostly good people. Mostly._

_Of course not many would take kindly to a ten year old with a bad temper and trust issues making, a gaping hole in their fancy 'brown mahogany stained cherry' dining table. He remembered their faces, mouths agape, wide eyed in shock. Shock and fear_. _He knew that he couldn’t stay. There was no way that he could stay there, not in a place where he overheard conversations late at night, talking about this neighbour's daughter who’s cursed with being a demon weapon, every syllable laced with disgust._

 

_Every one of Keith’s cells were screaming get out, get out, get out. As quickly as he could, he wrenched his arm out, feeling it return to normal, and ran to his room, dumping out the items from the backpack he used for school, and refilling it with anything he deemed important._

_As sudden as his transformation, he disappeared._

 

 _It wasn’t like he hadn’t done this before, living on the streets, but it was just so_ different _than before, in ways that he couldn’t even begin to describe._

 

_The next few months flew by, Keith spent his days moving around from place to place, even at age ten, he knew how to stretch out what little money he had. When he was running low, he pick pocketed small amounts. Sure, his father wouldn’t approve of it, but it’s what he had to do. Other times, he just had to push his pride away and beg, or at the very least, look like a small and pitiful child._

 

_On one of his pickpocketing days, he chose the worst person he could possibly choose, someone that would notice, and would beat him up for it without hesitation. And naturally, the guy noticed his light pocket, retracing his steps to Keith’s alleyway, and naturally, noticed a small figure flipping through his wallet._

 

_“Hey boy! What do you think you’re doing?” Keith jumped at the sudden yell._

_“Sorry sir, I found this wallet on the ground. Is it yours?” he asked innocently._

_“Quit that act you little thief! I know damn well that it wasn't ‘found on the ground’!” in a desperate bid to escape, he threw the wallet at the man’s face and scrambled over the rusted chain link fence and away._

 

_A cool night, a couple of days later, Keith was sitting under a bridge, figuring out how to survive the next week after being caught in public. He was about to take out his coins, only to hear footsteps._

_He curled up even tighter, wedging himself between two of the bridge’s support beams._

 

_“-ere do you think he is?” a young woman’s voice asked._

_“I don’t know, it’s been almost a week already. He might not even be in this area anymore.” replied the the person with her, he sounded similar in age, late teens, most likely a couple of years older than Keith._

_As the pair strolled past him, he noticed a flash of bright silvery white. Looking up a bit more, he saw that it was hair, caught in a bun, that belonged to the girl._

_“Wait, can you see anyone?” crap, she must have seen him._

_“It’s hard to see anything in this light.”_

_“No, can you see any_ souls? _” she clarified. Keith stopped a gasp, even though it probably didn’t mean much anyway._

 

_Swiftly, whilst they were still distracted, he did his best to hide his hand under his jacket, and willed it into a blade, preparing to attack or run._

_“Shiro, there’s someone here.” the silver haired girl said. Double crap, does anything escape her?_

_“Go away before I attack you!” Keith bellowed, hoping to sound threatening._

_“Allura.” there was a flash of light, and to his surprise, she was a whip._

_“Who are you people?” in a surge of either courage or stupidity, he left his hiding spot._

_‘We’re not here to hurt you!” to prove his point, he let his weapon transform back into a human. “I’m Shiro, and this is Allura, we’re students of the Death Weapon Meister Academy.” Keith eyed them suspiciously, but in the better light, he inspected them carefully._

 

_Shiro’s hair was cropped short, save for the tuft of white hair covering his forehead and a nasty looking scar that ran over the bridge of his nose. He wore black pants and gloves, along with a black bomber jacket with two white and a yellow stripe around the collar and the sleeves. On his right hand side he wore a purple ‘v’ shape encased in a sorta circle with a protrusion to the side and the word ‘EAT’ stationed evenly around the border._

 

_Allura wore the same patch but in pink on the right arm-ish area of her calf-length blue, yellow, and pink cape. Under that, she wore a black and white panelled top and black pants with a blue belt. Her white over the knee boots had the same blue on the tips, (which he suspected might be coloured steel) and pink edges._

 

_“Are you telling the truth?” he finally said, both of them letting out a relieved sigh._

_“Yes, I promise.” Keith looked closer at their faces._

_“Don’t think I’m going anywhere with a pair of strangers yet. Tell me more about that place.” he demanded._

_“It’s a bit of a mouthful, so we call it the DWMA. It’s a wonderful place, believe me, not only that, but you get accommodation, an education, you can learn how to control your powers too.” he must have perked up at the last one, judging by Allura’s giggle._

_“Do you want to come with us?” Keith was shocked. No one had ever asked him what_ he _wanted to do, usually it was simply just an order, he never been given the choice. Until now._

_“Yes please.”_

 

_-_

 

_The first time he saw the DWMA, he was awestruck. The pictures just didn’t do it justice. From the steps, to the weird design, it was different seeing it with his own eyes._

 

_“Are you ready?” he looked up at their kind smiles, and nodded._

_“I’m ready.”_

 

_Keith was panting after the two hundredth step, whereas his companions didn’t even break a sweat until they were three quarters of the way up. Even then, they made it look like child's play._

_“Isn’t there an easier way up?” he whined around the three hundred and fiftieth step._

_“No, Death made it like this for fitness and persistence. I guess it’s along the lines of: if you can’t do this, then go home.” Shiro explained._

_“Weeding out the weak ones already, huh?” he let out a breathless laugh, and continued to climb, focusing all his strength on getting to the top._

 

_-_

 

_They went to Allura and Shiro’s apartment first, which according to them, was a luxury that came with being in the ‘EAT’ class. Apparently the ‘NOT’ students lived in a shared dorm. Inside, it was bright and spacious, looking like it was taken out of a homemaker magazine._

_Allura handed Keith a fluffy white towel, told him to take a shower and that Shiro was going to come back with some clothes for him._

 

_Half an hour later, Keith was drying his wet hair, wearing a too big grey shirt and too long tracksuit pants._

_“We’ve talked it over with Death and a couple of teachers, so they’ve agreed to let you stay with us. Since it’s a fair way through the year already, and you’re only ten, you can spend the rest of the year learning the basics and fighting, rather than going to classes. You will still be considered a student, so you can get an allowance too. So if you agree, you’ll begin next year with others your age. All that’s left is your approval.” Keith felt his heart beat a little faster with each of Shiro’s words. He was genuinely excited, and nodded eagerly._

_“Yes! I’d love that!” even if they were only five years older than him, they chuckled and shared looks like he always imagined those perfect parents would._

 

_-_

 

_Seven months later, it was the beginning of a new school year. Even if he’d lived there for a while now, he felt dwarfed. Looking around, he saw how there were some people struggling up the stairs. He idly noted that those people were most likely going to be his classmates. He knew that it was a little unfair to be laughing at one boy that collapsed at the top, whilst another flitted around in a panic, but he laughed quietly to himself anyway._

 

_Keith turned back around to face the doors. It was strangely… comforting, to see someone else struggle just like he did. He knew it was bad to feel like that but it helped._

_He drew in a deep breath, and let it out. He was going to be_ fine _._

 

_-_

 

_The first few days were just settling and class placement. Very few students had control over their transformations at all. He himself hadn’t quite managed to fully become a sword, but he knew how to do it on command at least._

_His attempts to get a partner ended horribly at best, he felt like he was beaten up from the inside, after person after person tried to wield him, only for their souls to reject one another. The only person that came close was Shiro, they couldn’t partner anyway, not when he already had Allura, and even then, a whip and a sword weren’t an easy combination. In the end, it didn’t even matter, because he worked best alone._

_At least on his fourth day, he met Pidge, who was a weapon as well, and seemingly a combination between a knuckle duster and a knife in a boomerang shape. He was a surprised, but they actually clicked pretty quickly._

 

_Through Pidge, he re-met Matt, their brother, meister, and Shiro’s best friend, met Hunk who also was a meister, and geeked out with the Holts, then met Hunk’s partner, Lance. Despite the age gaps between some of them, the seven formed a tight-ish group._

 

 _'Ish' referring to the 'rivalry' Lance had started. He wasn’t even sure how it happened in the first place, but within the first few weeks of knowing one another, it was just there. He would have preferred just being friends, or at least starting as friends, but Lance managed to push_ every single one _of Keith’s buttons. That lead to all sorts of challenges and competitions, from who got to class quickest, who finished their food first, who got the higher score, and who got into EAT before the other. Somehow, what he initially thought of as an annoyance, turned into something he actually looked forward to._

 

It surprised him how well they could get along when they needed to, (read: when Pidge and/or Allura made them).

He’s brought back the the present at the sound of shuffling feet, and a door opening.

“I thought we agreed that I use the bathroom first.” he turns to face Lance, wearing blue space printed pyjamas, and those weird, blue, angular lion slippers he bought on one of their ‘explorations of the city’, and naturally, Keith too, has a pair of those weird, blue, angular lion slippers too, but in red.

“You weren’t here earlier, so I went ahead.” Lance stuck his tongue out.

“Real mature. Don’t think I didn’t hear that yelp when I came back, along with the suspiciously sudden water.” he knew he’d won this one.

“Okay, I’m sorry, but you were gone for like, two hours, so I thought I might as well go to sleep early.” Keith sighs, grabs his pile of clothes from the couch, and gets up.

“I expect pancakes tomorrow.” he grins. Even if he’s groaning, he knows that behind his back, his partner is smiling too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone that's read my story and gave it a kudos, and a MASSIVE thanks to the people that bookmarked or subscribed to this!
> 
> I'd love to hear any critiques or general comments! (wink wink nudge nudge)
> 
> So, I'm going back to school soon so I can't really say how much time I'll have in the future, but I'll be doing my best to write and post chapter. Also, I forgot to link it earlier, but feel free to chat to me on tumblr. My main is tobedauntless!


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